WHY YOU SHOULD READ A BOOK A WEEK

In between current personal and professional projects I am always trying to read more, so I was interested in this guest Blog post by Lucy Adams. Reading has always been part of my life – an enjoyable habit, but recently I have set myself the task of reading for research and this post has some useful pointers. I also find myself trying to encourage my teenage son to read a small amount of pages daily, whilst not making it too much of a chore, and I am always on the look out for good teen fiction.

If you find this article useful you can follow the link at the end to read more from Lucy.

Why Should You Read a Book a Week? By Lucy Adams

In the middle of the last century, a young man named Earl Nightingale got inspired to change his life after reading one of the Napoleon Hill’s books. He decided to devote himself to self-development and enthusiastically began to study all the available material on this and related topics. However, he was sure that by studying an hour a day, in three years one can become one of the best specialists in the field, in five years – an expert of a national scale, and in seven years – one of the leading professional in the niche.

What results has he achieved? Well, Nightingale is now called “the dean of personal development.”

Later, this reading practice was followed and popularized by Brian Tracy, even before he became one of the best consultants for self-development and management. Was the “1 book per week” system a key ingredient in the recipe for success? It’s hard to say because usually, such recipes consist of several ingredients. At the same time, Brian Tracy highly appreciates the role of this reading strategy.

In 1992, the idea to read a book per week was taken by Steve Pavlina, one of the most popular American bloggers, an expert in the field of personal development. In 2005, he published a report on ten years of following this advice with the intention to show “what lies beyond the habit.” He’s not talking about the impact of this technique on his career and success but rather shares his vision on how reading changes, disciplines and teaches to think productively. According to S. Pavlina, the main advantage of reading a book per week is that the person receives new information and becomes an expert in the field, as well as that the brain gets used to the constant load.

And it’s hard to disagree. When you read one book a week, you train your brain to process new information. Your thinking becomes fresh and sharp. Your brain analyzes new ideas and compares them with the already accumulated knowledge. Every day your brain systematizes new information and lays it out on the shelves in your internal database. Systematic reading provokes the activity of your brain even when you’re not reading!

But the big question arises: Is it possible for an average person whose abilities are much more modest than Tracy’s and Pavlin’s, and who need time for work, family, and leisure?

As practice shows, such fears are always with us, but for someone who has clearly set a goal and planned it properly, there’s nothing impossible. Not to say it’s easy, especially if you don’t read regularly, but the goal is achievable, even not taking into account the methods of speed reading!

And, what’s more important, this way of reading was many times applied to practice. The love of people to different kind of contests made “a book per week” something akin to a call. Many authors and public figures, including Claire Diaz Ortiz, J. Smith, and A. von der Heydt share their experience, while on such websites as Goodreads and Read52booksin52weeks, you can find a lot of stories from “ordinary” followers of the idea.

How to Read 50 Books in 50 Weeks?

#1 Find a Reason

Find a good reason; in other words, answer the question: Why am I doing this?

Maybe, you want to increase your knowledge in a particular field or just test yourself. Recall this reason every time you want to quit. It will be the best motivation.

After all, it’s not so difficult to find a motive. A much more complicated task is to convince yourself do it every day. The desire to quit will be great, but on the other hand, such an ambitious target can change you for the better.

#2 Read More than You Need

An average book contains 250-300 pages. Therefore, to cope with it, you need to read about 50 pages a day. Not too much, right? But that’s not the point. To train yourself and be disciplined, at first, you should read these pages at once, without breaking reading into a few stages. Later, you’ll have enough experience to split the volume and combine it as you wish.

#3 Make Reading a Habit

Make reading not an obligation but a physical habit, like waking up in the morning. Daily reading should become a ritual. Read wherever the opportunity arises – in a subway, in a queue, during the lunch break, etc.

#4 Put Aside Uninteresting Books

It happens that the book seems too boring. In this case, you mustn’t torture yourself – just skip it and start reading the next one. Finally, you can always return to it later.

Lucy Adams is an outsourcer from https://bestessay4u.co.uk/. She prefers topics on literature, writing, and education, but from time to time, puts them aside and switches to other intriguing areas. Frankly speaking, Lucy is a generalist. You can always share your ideas with this diligent blogger and get at least one high-quality post in return.